YSU hosts 17th annual Summer Festival of the Arts

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University will be the center of food, music, dance performances and art once again next month.

The 17th annual Summer Festival of the Arts will take place July 11 and 12, at and around the university’s campus.

The festival is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The festival showcases the work of more than 70 local, regional and national artists selling original, hand-crafted pieces such as jewelry, paintings, sketches, sculptures, glass, wood and textiles. Artists’ work has been selected from among a long roster of applicants.

Family activities include the popular hands-on art tent, where children create various pieces of artwork under the guidance of a professional art teacher.

Music, theater and dance performances also are scheduled across campus from the McDonough Museum of Art to DeBartolo Hall.

Performers will include the Youngstown Community Concert Band performing at the Festival of Nations – located at the area bordered by Maag Library, Ward Beecher Planetarium and The Butler Institute of American Art – at 11 a.m. Saturday and the Burke School of Irish Dance at the Chestnut Room of the Kilcawley Center at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The weekend is being branded as The Summer Festival of the Arts Weekend. Other related events also will take place that weekend, including:

The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Summerfest, July 9-12;

The unveiling of a new Abraham Lincoln portrait by local artist Ray Simon in the Mahoning County Courthouse Rotunda on July 11 by Simon.

The Downtown Jazz Fest will welcome saxophonist Paul Taylor to the stage at Central Square in downtown Youngstown at 7 p.m. July 11 with the opening act, Jeff Green’s “The Jazz in the Park Allstars.”

The inaugural Gospel Festival 2K15 is scheduled for July 12 at the stage at Central Square, headlined by Grammy Award winner Tye Tribbett.

For more information on the Festival of the Arts or related events, go to www.ysu.edu/sfa.